Jealousy
by ArwenLalaith
Summary: Tag to 'In Heat'. Trouble is part of your life and, if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough. Co-written with Confetti Leaves.


Derek Morgan let out a breath of relief when he entered the air-conditioned room of the Miami police station. He grinned inwardly when he found her resting in the conference room alone, with the files spread out in front of her. He took a moment to admire the peaceful look on her face as she rested and the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

He was expecting her to give him one of her amazing smiles when she opened her eyes to see who entered the room, instead she closed her eyes again and ignored him.

"Emily, are you okay?"

"Resting. Too hot." And that was all he got from her. She didn't even look at him once, didn't even bother to open her eyes when she replied him. Bewildered by her behavior, he watched her carefully and tried to figure out what was wrong because he knew it wasn't just the heat that was making her ignore him.

He let his concern get the best of him; sliding into the seat beside her, he slowly trailed a comforting hand down her back. "Baby, what's wrong?" he whispered, concerned.

"Don't," she hissed, almost scathingly, pulling her chair away from him. "Someone could walk in any moment..."

He frowned, disconcerted. Usually she'd indulge him for a second or two, even at work, before pulling away and she'd never taken that tone with him before. "Emily, talk to me," he whispered, surreptitiously placing his hand atop hers which was resting under the table.

"I don't think the Bureau paid us to talk, Morgan."

"I don't care about the Bureau right now." He looked up to make sure no one was watching them before he continued, whispering, "I just want to know what's wrong with my girlfriend."

She was touched by his statement and immediately felt bad that she was giving him a hard time when all he wanted was to make sure that she was okay...at least, until someone stepped into the room, interrupting them. Morgan quickly removed his hand and shot her an apologetic look.

The second Detective Lopez entered the room, she regretted it. She felt like she had interrupted something, but she wasn't sure how important it was. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" she asked.

"No," Morgan quickly replied, smiling politely, "It was nothing important."

She clenched her jaw and huffed, annoyed. Shooting Morgan another glare – which he noticed this time – she took a moment to compose herself before turning to face the detective with a polite smile. "I'm going to see if Rossi has found anything," she informed, before quickly leaving the room.

"Is she okay?" the detective asked, "She looked uncomfortable."

"She's fine. I think the heat's getting to her." He watched as Emily made her way to another room; there was something about her body language that told him that she wasn't too happy with him.

The detective shrugged. "The heat can be pretty bad around here."

"Yeah," he said distantly, quietly wondering what was going on with Emily because it was safe to say that she didn't usually behave that way with him...

...

Morgan quietly watched as Emily helped JJ pack up the files and photos giving her blond friend more time to spend with Will. She hadn't looked at him once since their conversation in that very conference room earlier. He still hadn't figured out what was going on, but he definitely didn't like it that she had been ignoring him practically since they'd arrived in South Beach.

Emily smiled curtly when Lopez entered the room, thanking the BAU for their help. "Good night, Derek," Lopez smiled when she made her way out, causing Emily to roll her eyes.

The rest of the team grinned and teased Morgan about the detective's attention on him while Emily listened in annoyance. He noticed that Emily still hadn't looked at him once – if anything, the cold shoulder she'd been giving him became much more blatant.

He'd been trying to get her to open up to him about what was going on any time they were alone, but she'd been a closed book and she seemed to be making an effort to ensure that they weren't alone at any point in the day. Clearly, she didn't want to talk about whatever it was...and he had no idea why – they'd always promised to be open and honest in their relationship and this was a complete reversal of that.

The rest of the team returned to the hotel they were staying in, after Emily agreed to stay behind to finish cleaning up and Morgan took the opportunity to stay behind and help. Once they were alone, Emily made it a point to keep a distance between them. The silence that reigned in the room was becoming unbearable for him, but she didn't seem to either notice or care.

Finally, he couldn't take it any more and moved towards her, standing in front of her, forcing her to look at him. "What's wrong? Don't tell me nothing because you've been ignoring me."

Emily glared at him. "I'm not having this conversation here."

"Fine." Deciding that the only way he was going to get her to talk to him was to force her, he quickly pulled her into an unoccupied supply closet and shut the door. "We can talk here. No one is going to come looking for us."

"Derek, stop!" She pulled her hand out of his grasp, crossing her arms over her chest. "This is neither the place nor the time to discuss our relationship. We could get caught."

"We're not going anywhere you talk to me," he insisted. "There's something bothering you, but you're not telling me, Em. You promised we wouldn't keep secrets..."

Biting back a bitter retort, she took a deep breath and repeated slowly, "We cannot talk about this here. Someone could walk in at any moment. We can talk when we're alone."

"You promise we'll talk when we get back to the hotel?" Derek asked softly, reaching up to gently tuck her hair behind her ears. "I need to know what's wrong with my baby..."

She bit her lip, trying to not let his tenderness affect her mood, but she couldn't help it. "I promise," she murmured softly, shutting her eyes at his gentle touch.

...

Morgan waited a little anxiously for Emily to open up and tell him what was bothering her upon their return to the hotel, but she continued to avoid any kind of meaningful conversation.

She had hoped that if she just gave herself time to cool off, avoiding thinking about it, her annoyance would fade. But upon glancing back at him, meeting his intense gaze, she couldn't help feeling the anger bubbling up again. Letting out an annoyed huff, she once again turned away.

He sighed, knowing she was just going to keep avoiding him if he didn't speak up. He gently turned her to look at him. "You promised we'd talk... Don't ignore me, baby."

She slowly let out a measured breath. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?"

"I don't understand..." he frowned, confused.

"Oh, come on!" she snapped, "Don't pretend like you haven't noticed how you've barely acknowledged my existence these last few days..."

Realization slowly dawned on him. "Oh, Emily... Are...are you _jealous _that I've been spending all my time with Lopez?"

"I'm _not _jealous," she said bitterly, hurt and anger flashing in her eyes. "I don't have any right to be – I'm _'nothing important'_..."

"Baby, I didn't mean anything by that," he breathed apologetically. "Please, believe me. You're the _most_ important thing to me."

"How am I supposed to believe that when it's like I don't exist the second you set your eyes on another woman?" She felt the tears building up, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"Emily, _please_..." he bit his lip, "I don't know how to explain this... Maybe I've been spending a lot of time with her, but it doesn't mean anything. She – and the other women – don't mean _anything_ to me. You're the one I love, you know that..."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" she asked desperately. "Why didn't you tell her you weren't interested when she offered to _'show you a good time'_?"

"I... I didn't think not rejecting her was such a big deal. I know I'll never take her up on it..." he said, feeling bad for hurting her when he saw the tears sparkling in her eyes. "If it makes you feel better, I can tell her I'm not interested. I'll do it right now."

"I shouldn't have to _ask_ you to tell another woman you're not interested. Are...are you ashamed of me?" she whispered fearfully, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Do you not want people to know that we're together?"

Morgan was stunned by her question and it was only then that he realized how badly he must have hurt her. "No!" he shook his head adamantly, insisting that it wasn't what she thought it was. "You _know_ that I can't wait to show everyone that you're my girlfriend. You can't possibly believe that I'm ashamed of you." He placed his hands on her shoulders, keeping her close, needing her to see that he was serious about her. "Is it the flirting, baby? I can stop if it makes you uncomfortable. You know I'll do anything for you."

"No, it's not that..." she sighed. "I don't want to change you – it's part of who you are and I love who you are. But when you flirt, it's like I don't exist..."

"This has been bothering you for a long time." It was a statement, not a question. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why didn't you tell me it was bothering you? We agreed that we'd be honest with each other..."

"I thought maybe I was imagining it or I was just over-reacting..." She sighed, "I didn't want you to think I was trying to change you – I love you for who you are."

"You should have told me," he insisted, "I'd change if I had known this was hurting you and I'd do it happily because I want to make you happy." He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I'm _so _sorry; I should have noticed. I never meant to hurt you."

She buried her face in the crook of his neck. I know you didn't," she murmured, "I'm sorry I kept it bottled up..."

He leaned in to kiss her gently in apology. "I promise it won't happen again. There won't be a next time."


End file.
